All Plum Island beaches were reopened on Sunday morning following almost a week of closure due to an excess amount of bacteria in the water, city officials announced.
A release from the city of Newburyport Sunday morning said the most recent testing of its Plum Island beaches’ water “showed significantly reduced bacteria levels.” The beach accessible from 55th Street, officials said, was reopened on Friday.
As of Friday, the state’s Department of Public Health and Bureau of Climate and Environmental Health listed 64 public beaches in Massachusetts with postings indicating that swimming is unsafe or could lead to illness.
City officials said Massachusetts’ beach testing program monitors more than 1,100 public beaches in the state, measuring the amount of Enterococci and E. coli bacteria present in the public swimming waters.
Swimming in water containing excess amounts of bacteria, officials said, could lead to a myriad of dermatological, respiratory, eye, gastrointestinal, skin and ear issues. Children and older adults with more at-risk immune systems, officials said, are even more susceptible to harmful side effects of bacteria.
The state’s list included the four Plum Island beaches, all having postings that testing showed bacteria over state limits. The list has not been updated since Friday and efforts to reach DPH Sunday were unsuccessful.
A majority of the beaches with postings, according to the state’s list, were a result of excess bacteria. Other postings included advisories about the algae and cyanobacteria levels and precautionary measures due to severe weather or rainfall levels.
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